'amino-group-like' is a modern English compound formed in scientific contexts from the combining form 'amino-' + 'group' + the adjectival suffix '-like', coined in the 20th century to describe resemblance to an amino group.

'amino-' derives from 'amine' (coined in the 19th century from 'ammonia' + suffix '-ine'), 'group' enters English via French 'groupe' (from Italian 'groppo' meaning 'knot') in the 17th–18th century, and 'like' comes from Old English 'lic' meaning 'having the form of'; these elements were joined in modern chemistry to create compounds such as 'amino-group-like'.

Initially, 'amino' related to 'amine' and 'ammonia' (substances named in the 18th–19th centuries); over time it became a productive combining form 'amino-' used to denote the —NH2 unit, and combined with 'group' and '-like' to mean 'resembling an amino group' in contemporary usage.